Road Trip Vocabulary: Part One

Today, I will teach you about useful English vocabulary for traveling especially for that classic American tradition: the road trip.

To memorize this vocabulary, read the text a couple of times, write your own little text using the vocabulary below and imagine where you would like to travel in the United States. As an English coach and teacher, I always tell my English students that one of the best ways to learn about America is to drive across the country experiencing as many places as possible, and not only checking out the sights. To experience America, is to see how diverse it is regionally, locally and so on; to realize how one’s own perception of space shifts while driving down long roads under seemingly endless skies; to understand how this vast land has shaped the mythology of America for better and for worse.

And, of course, you can’t drive in complete silence so let’s roll down the windows and put on some music to kick your highway journey into high gear. Here is a little playlist: 

“Born to be Wild”- Steppenwolf

“Cruisin’” - Smokey Robinson

“On the Road Again” - Willie Nelson

“Little Red Corvette” - Prince

“Going Back to Cali” - L.L. Cool J

“Sweet Home Alabama” - Lynyrd Skynyrd

“Route 66”- Chuck Berry

“Take me Home Country Roads”- John Denver

“America”- Simon & Garfunkel

“Holiday Road” - Lindsey Buckingham

“Love Shack - B-52’s

“Ride Like the Wind” - Christoper Cross

“Fast Car” - Tracy Chapman

“Hit the Road Jack” - Ray Charles

“Mustang Sally” - Wilson Pickett

“I Drove All Night” - Roy Orbison

“California Dreamin’” - The Mamas and the Papas

Now imagine, to drive across the country from the East Coast of the U.S. to the West Coast, you start your journey in Washington, D.C., the nation’s capital. You will first hit the road driving out of the city towards Richmond, Virginia. There you will probably hit some traffic on the way down to North Carolina for a quick stop in Durham. There is a wonderful coffee/chocolate place, called Cocoa Cinnamon, you want to check out while passing through on your way to your first overnight stay in Charleston, South Carolina. While in Durham, you get hungry and decide to get some amazing arepas from a place called Guasaca. You have heard great things about that place and don’t want to miss the chance to try their wonderful Colombian/Venezuelan treats. After filling up your belly with some arepas and hot chocolate drinks, you leave Durham to get back on the highway towards Charleston. On your way to South Carolina, you get thirsty and decide to pull over at a gas station to buy some water. There you also walk around for a bit to stretch out your legs and get some fresh air. Then you get back on the highway. After a couple of hours of driving through North Carolina and parts of South Carolina, you take the exit to Charleston. Your GPS is telling you to drive into the city to get to your hotel. There you check in quickly because you realize that you are super tired. You take the elevator up to your room, walk down the corridor leading to your room, and unlock the door to your room where you, immediately, put on/turn on the TV and fall asleep. The next day, you take the elevator down to check out, get back into your car, pull out of your parking spot and drive off. After a while, you cross into Georgia where you want to make an overnight stop in Savannah. You put on some more music and drive down the road excited about all the adventures ahead of you....

To be continued...